


Off the Record

by Bitch_In_The_Blue



Series: Full Disclosure [1]
Category: Grand Theft Auto Series (Video Games), Grand Theft Auto V
Genre: Disabled Character, Eventual name reveal, F/M, Nonverbal Communication, Pansexual protag, Secret Relationship, Sign Language, Strangers to Lovers, There will be sex, communication barrier, dirty jokes of course, doomsday scenario, eventually, false identities, mute protag, shy protag, the shape of water reference, use of fake names
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-03-26
Packaged: 2019-03-20 14:22:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13719537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bitch_In_The_Blue/pseuds/Bitch_In_The_Blue
Summary: With communication barriers comes new ways to tell someone how you feel.Some more physical than others.





	1. Talking With Your Hands

"Can I get some caffeine here!?"  
The unwelcomed sound of Avon Hertz bitching at everyone in the room made her roll her eyes on the way into the facility's auditorium.  
"Vamos, people, you're late! If you worked for me, I'd fire you."  
The Mute Woman gave Avon an exaggerated shrug, as if asking ''are you fucking _gonna?_ " while she found a seat.  
"We do work for you and you can't afford to fire us!" Lester Crest retorted.  
"Oh, very clever. We're trying to stop a global crisis and you're quibbling about employment law."  
The Mute Woman ignored them as they argued back and forth and stole a glance at the far side of the auditorium where Mrs. Rackman and Agent 14 were on standby with computers on their laps.  
While Mrs. Rackman clicked away on her keyboard, readying a document for the IAA, 14 could see the unnamed woman out of the corner of his eye and looked over- making her quickly pretend to have not been staring- just as Avon finally got down to business.  
Submarine off the coast. Codename: Bogdan, steal an avenger, save Agent ULP, etc.  
She knew enough violent, money-hungry mercenaries around San Andreas who would be happy to shoot down some NOOSE guys for a fat government paycheck.  
Oh, and submarines made out of Strombergs! This was gonna be like one of those kickass spy movies!  
 _Too bad I can't use any of the snazzy catchphrases._ She had to bite the tip of her tongue to keep from smiling at her own stupid thought.   
Her attention came back the moment Mrs. Rackman told her agents "Let's go.  _All_ of you," adding a glance at Agent 14, The Woman noticed.  
She wondered if he'd have stuck around if Rackman hadn't specified.   
The IAA left the facility, 14 at the back.  
He noticed her looking at him again, and she gave him a small smile and signed something to him. He stopped for a quick second to try to make out the words- but ultimately didn't understand any part other than when she pointed at him.  
"What's that mean?" He asked.  
"She said your fly's down," Lester said just as he and Avon passed him.  
14's brows raised and he glanced down at himself- seeing that it wasn't true.  
The Woman gave him an apologetic grin and shook her head- which he understood as 'I didn't actually say that'.  
She faced forward, smiling widely to herself when she was left alone. Enjoying the lingering glow of the tiny, comedic exchange for a couple of minutes.  
  
In between setup tasks, life had also continued on as usual.   
Today she managed to steal a riot van with ease, lose the cops, and deliver it to the facility- and she did it all before 9 AM. She'd reward herself with an overpriced latte.  
She found herself checking her phone a little more often after the meeting in the facility the other day. 14 usually sent a million messages a week about state sanctioned arms dealing.  
More communication than when they'd first met, but still... All about work.  
She wondered if he'd ever talk about anything else if she engaged him in conversation. She felt attraction from that first time she laid eyes on him- on a recommendation from Lester, no less.   
And then they met again when she bought a bunker near Paleto Bay.   
Every time they'd 'meet for the first time', he'd say "We've never met" or something similar.  
The little tour he gave her around the bunker had a few moments where he'd tried to get positive reactions out of her- and successfully did so.  
Charming.  
  
$4 coffee was bullshit, but she couldn't resist a caramel latte on a nice day. And it didn't hurt that the barista understood sign language.  
_Ping!_  
Her text notification went off in her pocket, and she took out her phone to see a message from Agent 14.  
A photo.  
Of her back. Easy to recognize in her yellow T-shirt.  
_"Is that you?"_  
She glanced back over her shoulder to see him much further back in the line. He gave an awkward little wave when their eyes met.  
She smirked and typed out a reply _"Yup, that's my ass you're staring at"_  
_Nono- too forward_  
She erased the message and instead sent  _"Yup"_ instead.  
_"Didn't think you ate or drank anything. I thought you just kind of survived off of confirmed kills."_  
_"Surprise: I'm human too."_ She glanced back at him and saw him try to hide a thin smirk.  
She ordered her coffee and made her way toward the door, shooting him a small smile when she passed him up.  
"You see that? She just gave me the look." The guy in line behind him whispered to his friend.  
14 rolled his eyes.  
"I'm gonna go talk to her. Hold my place in line, man-"  
"Dude, fuck you, I'm not paying for your coffee."  
_"You got a minute?"_ 14 sent her another message. She was just outside, making her way to a place to sit down. He saw her look at her phone while the twenty-something year old who was behind him made his way outside to talk to her. Now he wondered- how old was she anyway? They knew absolutely nothing about each other except for what they did for money.  
He observed her outside while the line moved forward. The guy came up to her and invited himself to sit down.  
He did all the talking. Of course. Hard to get anything out of a mute woman. But she patiently sipped her coffee and he could see her fingers not-so-patiently drumming on her knee under the table. She nodded occasionally. But only offered hollow, polite looks. Disinterested. She even looked at her phone while he talked. He wrote on a napkin and passed it to her. His phone number, 14 assumed.  
His phone went off in his pocket while the guy walked back into the store.  
She answered him.  _"I do now."_  
Cool.  
  
When he came outside, he saw that she'd crumpled up the napkin and set it aside on the table.  
"That guy thought you gave him a look," he said, deciding to sit across from her.  
She smirked and signed "That was for you" to him.  
"Uh-" he stopped her. "You do know I don't know any sign language, right? I usually just try to guess what you say... Thinkin' about learning it." Which was true. Because of her.  
She nodded her understanding, taking her phone out of her pocket and typing out what she wanted to say before showing him. Text made a good translator.  
_"Was I giving a look?"_  
"Maybe. Were you trying to?"  
She shrugged.  _"Maybe."_    
They gave each other a knowing look and a brief, tense quiet settled on them.  
"So, now that you can communicate with me, what was it you said back at the facility? Because apparently it wasn't an 'XYZ'."  
 _Oops._ She hadn't expected him to remember to ask about that.  
Well... Might as well be honest...  _"I said 'your eyes are so blue'"_.  
Another tense quiet. Sipping coffee to have an excuse to think of what to say.  
She typed out a  _"sorry"_ , and just as she was reaching her phone out to show him-  
"So, I don't usually ask people on dates at a cafe, but..."  
His text notification sounded in his jacket. Rackman wondering why he wasn't back from lunch yet and accusing him of skating off.  
"Shit. Gotta go," he said, moving to his feet. "I'll get with you about this later today." She was saved in his phone as 'Jane Doe'. Same thing the rest of the IAA knew her as. "That alright with you, Brown Eyes?"  
She couldn't help but beam, eyes shyly avoiding him and instead looking down, stealing one glance at him as he sauntered away- clearly in a good mood.


	2. If You Want.

"You're an asshole, Nona," the pilot, Ace, sighed and rubbed her eyes, just after the last Merriweather helo was shot down by Mick and Graves at the turrets. Her short, hot pink dyed hair was stuck to her forehead with sweat.  
'Nona', the mute woman, nodded in acceptance of the insult and felt like she could finally exhale. Now that the action was over, she could feel the agony of where the bullet had struck her- as well as where a knife had slashed through the leg of her pants. Before that she'd just kept her hands clamped over it to limit the bleeding. She'd live... Hopefully.  
  
Ace was the leader of a weed operation in Blaine County. If any pot made its way through San Andreas, it was because of her. They dated for a while when Nona first came to Los Santos.  
Mick was a man Nona had met at a meeting. A support group for others who were mute. Mick was on the Autism spectrum and struggled with Selective Mutism. Nona, on the other hand, had severe Laryngitis as a young child and developed Aphonia thanks to the infection. They clicked at the first meeting.  
Graves was a run of the mill mercenary. No problem doing whatever it took to get money- but he still had a moral compass. A regular, church going man. Incidentally, Nona met him at the chapel out in Great Chaparral when he caught her trying to hotwire a car out of the parking lot.  
  
This was her team for everything she did. None of them knew each other's true names, but instead nicknames they'd chosen for themselves for the ease of communication.   
Nona signed _"I'm sorry, I didn't know this was going to happen."_  
"Yeah, well,  _know_  next time," Ace retorted. "Both you and Graves got fucking shot. No- y'know what? There's not gonna  _be_ a next time. I'm out from here on. This Russian invasion bullshit is gonna go on without me."  
Nona gave her friend a look of disappointment, hands shaking as she signed  _"Please, we need you if we're going to make this happen. You're our best pilot. We-"_  
"You may as well put your hands back on the bullet hole. Once I land this fucking plane, you won't be seeing me for a long time."  
Nona looked away from her friend in shame, clasping her bloodied gloves back over the bloody hole in her worn down kevlar and staring out the cockpit at the horizon as the Avenger neared the drop off point near Paleto Bay, where the IAA had paramedics waiting for them.  
  
The medical tent they'd set up made quick work of Nona's wounds and set her up with a clean set of clothes- that were too big for her. All they had was an IAA recruit T-shirt and the bottom half of a pair of scrubs. Graves needed a little more time to close an exit wound.  
But once they were done, one of the IAA peon's gathered the two of them into the back of a government vehicle and drove them back to Los Santos.  
Mick had stayed in Paleto for the night, and Ace disappeared the moment the Avenger had landed and the IAA paid her for her troubles.  
 _"I'm sorry I got you shot,"_ Nona signed to Graves, hands finally steady now that they were safe. She felt guilty. Graves was an older man- nearly fifty, and graying.  
Graves suffered worse injury before- and this wouldn't be the last time he'd be shot at. "It's okay," he replied, patting her on the knee. "It wasn't your fault."  
 _"Ace thinks it is."_  
"Ace'll forget about this over time. Don't worry." He grunted in pain as he shifted in his seat, adjusting his seat belt so he could comfortably lean against the door on his side. "I'm gonna get some rest. Wake me when we get to Los Santos."  
Nona nodded and watched the coast as they rode along. The moon reflected on the ocean so beautifully.  
She wanted to doze off and imagine that she was on a road trip like when she was a kid. Sitting in the back of her dad's car.  
   
When she woke up the next afternoon, her gauze was red with dried blood- as were her bed sheets. Streaked with blood, like a crime scene.  
Well... Those were ruined. She had to get new sheets...   
But for now, these were okay while she was still bleeding through bandages.  
Ugh. She felt like she hadn't slept at all.  
  
The paramedics said to change the bandages 1-4 times a day after the first ones are removed.  
She was lucky to not have had the bullets stuck in her or have any exit wounds.  
The bullet wound was on her waist. The slice wound across the front of her right thigh.   
She started with the cut.  
A quick shower cleaned the rest of her. The easy part first.   
The wounds stung horribly when water and soap poured over them. And they just kept fucking bleeding!  
When she left the shower, she dried off carefully, trying not to get blood on the towel- which proved impossible when her blood mixed with water and ran down her leg.  
 _... This is bullshit._  
  
It took for _fucking_ ever just to clean and bandage up her leg. And after that was a whole other ordeal for the one in her midsection.  
She was still midway through taping fresh gauze over the wound when she heard a knock on the door.  
 _Shit._  
Gauze.  
Door.  
Gauze.  
Door-  
Which one first? Goddamn it! _DOOR_.   
She was in pajama pants and a bra but fuck it, what if it was someone offering work?  
Putting on her thick rimmed glasses and still trying to hold down strips of tape on the way over, she didn't bother to look through the peep hole to see who was knocking- swinging open the door to see Agent 14, completely caught off guard by finding her half dressed and bleeding through fresh bandages.  
"Jesus, if I'd known I'd be greeted like this I'd have at least brought flowers."  
She rolled her eyes and signed _"What do you want?"_ Just before moving aside and letting him into her apartment.  
He managed to correctly guess what she was asking. "Wanted to check on you. Heard stealing the Avenger wasn't easy. Two people shot. No fatalities, but still. Wanted to be sure."  
She threw the door shut and motioned to the bullet wound staining through the gauze already.   
"Yeah, I see," he said. "And y'know, not judging, I know you're not a doctor- but you did kind of a shitty job at wrapping yourself up."  
She gave him an exaggerated shrug.  _So how the fuck am I supposed to do it, then?_  
14 sighed when he saw obvious frustration. Being unable to speak made it so that she had to be extra expressive. "Well- at least let me fix it. I know how to do it."  
She sighed back at him and tossed him what was remaining of the tape and gauze that she had in hand.  
"Uh-" he looked between her and the supplies in hand. "Let's do this over by the couch." He took her by the arm with his free hand and moved her just to where he could sit on the edge of the couch to be at eye level with her wound.  
"Y'know, moving  _away_ from bullets kinda helps people not get shot," his joke was ignored, and she sucked in a sharp breath as he pulled off the strips of tape she'd had on her skin. "Sorry. You good?"  
She nodded for him to continue, jaw clenched and exhaling through her nose.  
Carefully peeling back the tape and swapping out for a brand new stack of gauze pads over the wound.   
_That had to sting,_ he thought. But she gave no further indications of not being able to handle it. Tough girl.  
So he taped the bandages down a little more firmly. So she'd have an example of how to do it herself later.  
"Any more to worry about?"  
She made a slicing motion across her forearm and pointed to the front of her thigh.   
"You have a cut there?"  
She nodded again, carefully sliding the waistband of her flannel pants down to her knees. Zero shame- for the moment.  
Well... He had to give her  _some_ kind of credit for having the motivation to match her bra and underwear given the circumstances. She probably wasn't even expecting company...  
"So... Other than the obvious, how's it goin'?" He asked, trying to break the tension that came with being alone with someone missing most of their clothes, while he gave the same care to the cut as he did for the bullet wound.  
He hadn't spoken to her since last week at Bean Machine and she was still a little bitter about it. So she decided to just not answer him. He could patch her up and go home as far as she was concerned.  
And he knew he was in hot water when he glanced up at her right when she crossed her arms. "Uh-- sorry I didn't get to talk to you. Got caught up in the shit. Rackman's got us all pulling extended shifts to get our collective shit together. So if I wasn't at work where phones aren't allowed, I was passed out at home. No time to myself aside from my morning runs." He finished taping over her thigh, taking a quick second to take in the view. She was kinda tall for his tastes, but pretty. And the glasses? Sign him up. He was sort of into women with glasses. "... You have really nice legs, by the way," he said, quickly taking his hand off of her thigh.  
He didn't need a translator to understand that she signed _"I know"_ at him, just before yawning.  
Must not have slept much. He wouldn't have either if he got shot and stabbed in the same night.  
"Tired, huh?"  
She nodded.   
"Well- got any pain meds to help you sleep?"  
She shook her head.  
Leave it to government paramedics to not set up a patient with what they need...  
"Whelp," he dug into a hidden pocket inside of his jacket to fish out a small baggy of morphine tablets. "I keep these on me for moments like this... And for when detainees finally wanna cooperate. But you didn't hear that. Off the record."  
The corner of her mouth angled up a little bit.  
"You can have 'em. But no more than two in a day. Or else you start to get foggy-" he pulled back the bag when she reached for it. "Got it?"  
She gave him the 'okay' gesture and he passed the bag to her. She dry swallowed one tablet and dropped the rest of the little ziploc bag onto her coffee table before carefully trying to pull her pants back up to her waist.  
"Here," he said, helping her to get the waistband over the gauze and tape with care. She drew in another sharp breath between gritted teeth when he accidentally grazed the bullet wound. "Shit, sorry."  
She took a few pained breaths and nodded her understanding, patting him on the arm with gratitude for his help and walking away.  
"Where you going?" He asked.  
She signed  _"bed"_ , which was easy to understand.  
"So what am I supposed to do?" He called after her.  
Of course, when she was out of sight, there was no answer to be had.  
 _Well... Shit._  
  
Morphine was a gift from God. Or the devil. Either way, it was fucking magical.  
When Nona woke up from her nap, the sun was setting. She'd managed to sleep peacefully for hours without her wounds bothering her to the point of losing rest.  
She did, however, bleed through onto the sheets again.  
And now her pants were ruined. At least she never bothered to put on a shirt before she fell asleep...  
 _Did 14 leave?_  
Nona pulled on a loose gray shirt when she got out of bed and headed back out to her living room-- to find Agent 14 asleep on her couch. Sitting upright with his head leaned back and his arms crossed.  
He could've gone home if he wanted... Or at least try to hop in bed with her like she'd kind of hoped for over the last couple of months... Instead he'd decided to stay.  
She stood over him from behind the couch and cleared her throat, which made him jump awake.  
"Jesus-" he sighed, disoriented from sleep as he leaned forward and shook off the remnants of sleep. "Didn't even know I fell asleep. How long were you standing there?"  
Phone in hand, she could communicate a little better.  _"Just right now. Been asleep for a few hours."_  
"Right, right," he said through a yawn, moving to stand up-  
But Nona pulled him back by his shoulder so he stayed sitting. _"Stay. I'm gonna cook."_  
"You're making me food?"  
 _"I owe you for helping me."_  
  
She wasn't much of a bragger, but she was obviously prideful about her cooking. And rightfully so.  
With both plates cleared and thrown in the sink, they lingered at the kitchen counter for a minute- a litttle uncomfortable in the quiet, mundane moment.  
"So..." He said. This was weird. They'd never been around each other for this long. He stopped the moment he saw her writing something out on her phone.  
 _"Sorry I was pretty much naked earlier. I didn't really care at the time but I'm pretty embarrassed in hindsight."_  
"You won't hear me complaining," he said through an awkward half-laugh. "Been a little while since I saw that much of somebody."  
She tried and failed to suppress a shy smile and she looked away from him, cheeks burning red- thanks to his unintentional (maybe intentional?) flirting. Her sense of humor had returned with the meds dulling the pain. Plus, she felt like she couldn't hold his absence against him. Government jobs and such.  
"What's with that look?" He was teasing her- what a bastard! It was probably the first time she saw a genuine look of amusement, maybe happiness, on his face; making her let slip a silent laugh and cover her face with her hands.   
 _He's so hot, it's not fair!_  She thought.  _I just can't stop myself!_  
14 couldn't help but laugh. "Y'know, you're kinda shy for someone with a body count."  
She rolled her eyes and nodded. His smile was so infectious that she couldn't seem to get rid of her own- until she saw how close they were standing.  
Suddenly so aware of the moment.  
Setting her phone aside on the kitchen counter, she didn't bother to translate anymore. _"Just kiss me."_  
"I have no idea what you just said," he moved a half-step closer. His hands settled on her hips just as she laid her arms over his shoulders. "Buuuut I think I can figure it out..."  
 _Sure fuckin' can._ She pulled him in before she could psych herself out-- and kissed him herself. The urgency caught him by surprise, but he wasn't gonna stop it.  
His lips were kinda dry, but fuck it- this was the best! And it wasn't even because of the morphine!  
She took his bottom lip between her teeth and bit, making his fingers twitch and tightly grip the material of her shirt-- and accidentally brushing against the bullet wound again, which made her pull back with a gasp.  
"Shitshitsorryfuck-"  
She mouthed _'it's fine'_ with a shaky breath, signing the same.  
"I should probably let you get back to bed."  
She nodded, hand over the wound that was bleeding through her shirt now. She would fix it herself now that she knew how.  
Just as he was heading for the door, she snapped her fingers to get his attention. And just as he looked back at her, she signed: _"If that didn't hurt so much, you'd be coming to bed with me"._  
He gave the _'I don't know what that means'_ shrug, awaiting translation. Instead she just winked. Which said enough.  
  
Just as the elevator doors opened on the ground floor of her apartment building, 14's phone chimed in his pocket.  
 _"You can call me Nona. If you want."_  
Nona. That wasn't real, was it  
Ah. 'No Name'. No, it wasn't real.  
He'd find out for sure later. For now, he just responded with: _"Wilson. If you want."_


	3. Off The Record

_"hows business?"_  
 _"Going as well as can be expected. How's home?"_  
 _"home is good. mom misses u"_  
 _"I miss you both. I'll come visit soon."_ After her wounds were healed, of course. Two weeks later, the cut on her thigh had mostly healed, but the bullet wound was still an ugly red scab that she had to keep in check. A knock at the door came just as Nona pressed 'send' on her text, and she carefully stood up to see who came.  
She had expected to find 14, or 'Wilson', at the door- instead, finding Lester.  
Who immediately let himself in. "Listen, I know you got shot and everything, but I thought this was a walk in the park for someone like you. So excuse my lack of a 'get well soon' card, but  _we're in the middle of a fucking crisis here!_ "  
Nona listened to him rant, eyes wide with surprise at how his tone went from zero to sixty in half a goddamn second.   
"- Do you have _any_ idea how imperative it is that you get back out there and set this shit in motion!?"  
 _"Calm down,"_ she signed to him. Lester was the only associate she had who understood sign language. _"I'm going back tomorrow. I need down time."_  
"Down time is something we can't afford!"  
Her face contorted into a look of rage. "Tell me that when _you're_ the one who gets shot," she followed the statement with a flip of both middle fingers.  
Her phone chimed from her pocket and she saw another message from her dad. _"let us know when u decide to come. love u"_  Quiet settled over them while she read the message. Lester sighed and adjusted his glasses when. And once he was about to apologize-   
Another knock came at the door.  
Nona sighed in clear irritation, swinging open the door to find 'Wilson' this time. Her expression softened when she saw him, and the same fluttery feeling she got when they kissed came back to her.  
"Great, this A-hole," Lester muttered, making Nona glance back with a sardonic sneer. She turned back to 14 and motioned for him to come in.  
"What, what did I do? I just came to check on our friend here."  
"My deal is we have a finite amount of time before this Bogdan guy does something. Avon and Rackman are breathing down my neck wondering why nothing's getting done!"  
 _"I WILL HANDLE IT"_ Nona aggressively signed.  _"Go home. I'll get back to work tomorrow."_  
"Fine," Lester submitted, moving past the mute and the agent to get back to the door. "Just- get some rest. We'll talk more tomorrow."  
Nona watched as Lester left the apartment, listening to his cane thud softly against the carpeted hallway until he reached the elevator.  
She sighed, tired, and finally sent one more reply to her father.  _"Love you too. Talk to you later."_  
"Who's that for?" 14 asked. She jumped when she realized he was looking over her shoulder. So nosy! "Boyfriend?"  
 _"Dad"_  she showed her screen to him and tapped on the contact name, just before regaining some personal space.  
"You talk to your parents? You don't seem like the type to be close to family."  
 _"Just my parents. I don't talk to my brother anymore."_  
He chuckled "Because of the mute thing, right?"  
She shot him a mean glare and put her hands on her hips.  
"What?"   
Nona rolled her eyes and turned away from the agent to go back to where she was sitting before Lester came.  
"C'mon, seriously?" He followed, standing in front of where she sat down. "I didn't think you were so self-conscious about it."  
She showed him her screen. _"Well I am. Now you know."_  
"Okay," he said. "Since I keep fucking up, I'm just gonna lay my cards out on the table- you good right now? Not in much pain?"  
She shook her head, arms crossed. Legs crossed. Extra effort to wordlessly tell him he was being a dick and it was turning her off from him.  
"Okay," he said, getting down to her level. "Then maybe I can re-ask you out to make it all up to you. That alright?"  
She stared him down for a moment. Trying to determine if he was worth another disappointment.  
Blew her off once. Disappeared twice in three weeks. Poked fun at her handicap.  
Nonetheless... She gave him a nod. He better not fuck it up again.  
"Cool," he gave her a pat on both of her knees before standing upright. "Can I come by around seven? Later today?"  
She gave him a thin smile and another nod before writing out _"What did you have in mind?"_  
"Night in? Something low-key and a little less awkward than forced, one-sided conversation at a restaurant."  
She gave him a wry smirk.  _"Because of the mute thing?"_  
"What, so it's funny when you say it?"  
She winked and tapped herself on the nose. Like a game of charades. Then signed  _"You're lucky you're cute"._  
  
"Wait, you're not vegan, are you?" He paused, knife in hand, raw chicken breast in front of him on the cutting board.  
Nona shook her head and took a sip of her glass of wine. She'd sat down at one of her bar stools so she could observe. She never pegged him for a cook. But she did figure that he lived alone and had a healthy lifestyle. He mentioned liking to run.  
Maybe she was wrong about the idea of him living alone.  
She held out her phone to him again.  _"Are you married?"_  Probably would've been better to ask before they had this date, but...  
"No," he replied. "Why?"  
 _"Curious."_  
"What about you?"  
 _"Nope."_  
"Guess we're at that part of getting to know each other, huh?" He asked, eyes down while he worked. She searched for a text-to-speech app so she wouldn't have to keep making him look up.  
Found one.  
After a few seconds of downloading, she typed in a question to test it out _. "Ever date a girl with a robot voice?"_  
He jumped a little bit when he heard the obviously digital voice come from where she was sitting. A new way to communicate. "Nope, never dated a girl with a robot voice."  
Conversation carried on as he made their meal. They shared personal, but still pretty vague information about themselves all of the way through dinner.  
"How long have you been in San Andreas?" He asked.  
 _"2013,"_ the app read. They'd finished eating- he was an amazing cook and she was actually pretty jealous of his skill level. "You?"  
"Lived here for around ten years. Used to live in Vice City."  
 _"I grew up in Liberty City. Came here to meet a friend."_ Lamar Davis. He hit on her the moment she got off the plane.  
"How old are you, anyway?"  
She held up three fingers, then two.  
He nodded. "Thirty three."  
  
They moved over to the couch afterward, both to let their food settle and to watch a movie. First thing they could find, no matter if they'd seen it already.  
It was some horror movie with a predictable ending. But it was still good for entertainment.   
Nona gave 'Wilson' a smirk each time she felt him jump at the scares in the movie.  
 _"Jumpy,"_ the digital voice in her phone read.  
"I like scary movies and all that, but they still get me every time," he admitted.  
She just grinned and leaned against him. A nonverbal 'Don't worry, I've got you, you big baby'.  
Even better was when she eventually felt a heavy arm lay around her waist.  
The motion of her turning her head to look up at him caught his attention, and he looked back.  
 _"I want you,"_ she signed at him. "Me and you. Together. Tonight."  
"You gonna translate for me?" He smirked, getting the jist of what she was implying just from gestures alone. Even if it may have been innocent, it looked... a little bit sexual to someone who didn't know ASL. He just wanted her to say it directly.  
_How's this for a translation?_ She set her phone aside on the couch and opted to just kiss him again.  
'Wilson' was pleasantly caught off-guard- just as before. Not having to make small talk just seemed to erase other barriers for her. She just did things without preamble.  
She pulled back just for a second to take off her glasses and set them on the table before going right back to him. Assailing his lips in a series of hasty, passionate kisses. Physical affection seemed to be one of her favorite ways to communicate. It was easy, after all.  
And fun. Even more so when she pushed him over onto the couch and hovered over him on her hands and knees.  
"You don't waste any time," He snickered, feeling her nod as she kissed down to his neck and nipped the sensitive skin.  
_You're just fucking yourself here,_ he told himself, trying to ignore common sense as he recaptured her lips just as she ran her nimble fingers through his hair-- which felt fucking  _amazing_. _Everything about this is illegal. Like- this is fraternization._  
The thoughts disappeared for a moment when she pulled back, sitting upright for a moment and pulling off her shirt to throw it carelessly aside.  
As far as she was concerned, this was just something she'd been waiting for since she first laid eyes on him. Whatever consequences that happened afterward were secondary. She reached behind her back to unhook her bra, but 14 stopped her.   
"Uh- look, it's not that I don't want to, but I'm starting to think we probably shouldn't until this Russian sub shit is done."  
The reasoning behind this was completely fucking lost on her. _What? Did I do something wrong?_ She frowned, backing off of him.  
"Trust me, I want to...  _So fucking badly_..." He stared at the exposed skin, marred only by the scab of where she was shot, completely unable to think straight. Which was a rare occurrence for someone as level headed as him. "Us hanging around is one thing. We could write it off as planning. But it makes me look bad to the IAA if I screw someone I'm on record working with. If it was before all this..."  
He stopped when she made a zip-lip motion.  _This is off the record. No one needs to know._  
Then she got off the couch, forgoing putting her shirt back on. Instead walking toward her bedroom, taking one last quick, inviting glance at him with a cruel little smile.  _Your move, buddy._  
Even worse- he saw the bra she'd been wearing get thrown down the hallway and land in the living room.  
...  
_Okay, so: job security or the promise of sex?_  
Rackman would have him replaced in half of a heartbeat. Whether he be demoted, dismissed, or court marshalled... Which would really suck.  
Buuuuuuuuuuuut... It's not like Rackman would find out. 'Nona' wouldn't/couldn't tell anybody.   
... And _fuck_ she was a good kisser...  
Apparently that was the deciding factor.   
  
A hookup this nice didn't come along every weekend.  
Nona was still in the shower by the time 14 finished and stood in the mirror to examine his kiss swollen lips, the hickeys on his neck and collar bones, and the angry looking red scratch marks down his back.  
Unable to make many sounds of praise, she compensated with  _other_ signals. Ones that seemed a little harder to fake than just making loud noises until the guy finished.  
"Y'know, you really did a number on my back," he said. "And I gotta go to work on Monday with all these marks on my neck."  
The water in the shower stopped, and all that was left was the sound of Nona's hair dripping onto the tiles when she stepped out and wrapped up in a towel.  
She signed _"Deal with it"_ to him and immediately followed with _"I hope they last"._ The wink she gave him afterward gave him enough of a hint at what she was implying.  
  
She didn't seem to have any problem with dressing in front of him now- and rightfully so.  
Wouldn't catch him complaining about it, that's for sure.   
"Alright, I gotta get goin'," he said after he'd gathered up his scattered clothes.  
Nona stopped him before he could even begin to pull his pants on over his boxers. Sitting on the edge of her bed, wearing little more than a loose tank top and her underwear, she held onto his arm and mouthed "stay".  
"Stay the night?"  
She nodded and moved herself further back onto the mattress, making sure to leave room for him.  
... Well... Who was he to argue?  
  
First thing in the morning, Nona awoke to 14's head against her shoulder, and his arm over her middle- thankfully not on the side where her still healing wound was.  
He felt so warm and pleasant against her. She could just stay there all day... if it weren't for the impending crisis with the Russian sub.  
Even so... She could take the moment to enjoy the peace.  
She turned her head to look at him. Still asleep. She didn't want to wake him up yet, but damn it, she wanted to see those lovely blue eyes.  
He was pretty cute when he was asleep. Still looked disgruntled as fuck.  
Nona grinned and reached over to gently touch his stubbled cheek, making him crack open one sleepy blue eye and draw that first deep breath everyone seemed to take when they woke up.  
"Morning," she mouthed.  
"Morning," he replied with a weary mumble. He withdrew his hold over her and moved to get up. "What time is it?" He answered his own question with a look at his phone. 09:00. "Shiiiiiit..."  
She gave him a curious glance.  
"Gotta go home and feed my cat. Greedy little bastard won't forgive me if I'm a minute past nine thirty," he got out of bed and began to get dressed. Nona was on her phone in the mean time. Of course, waking up to texts from Lester about when he could expect her to show up.  
She got out of bed and put on a pair of shorts. She'd go about her morning and get to the Russian issue when she was ready. Not a minute sooner.  
  
"I hate to just bail like this, But hey, uh-" 'Wilson' said, pulling on his jacket and standing at her front door. She came up to him to let him out, and looked at him with a smile that made his chest feel weird. Good weird. "Wanna go do something over the weekend? While we got time."  
 _"Text me. We can plan."_ Her phone said.  
"I'll do that," he agreed, adding in a playful "You be good, okay?"  
Nona nodded and pulled him closer by the front of his shirt so she could kiss him again.  
It just about took the wind out of him- and honestly, she was surprised that she acted on impulse like that. The man made her so anxious. Good anxious.  
"I'll see you," was the last thing he said when they pulled apart, letting himself out and taking a moment to come back to himself.   
So she was kinda crazy. And couldn't talk. And probably had no conscience.  
But damn if he didn't like that about her.   
They'd have to do all of this again.  
  
On the other side of the door, Nona's grin had yet to even fade. And so did the red tinge in her cheeks.


	4. With Or Without Your Help

Not much had changed several weeks later.   
Well... Except for Avon and his stupid AI turning out to be genocidal assholes.  
That was a slap in the face, to say the least.  
Yet another problem to handle- only this time, with the aid of the last remaining body left on the Russian sub: Bogdan.  
But that was a problem for later that day.   
Mick and Graves had helped her with the task, and she ensured that the IAA paid them for their troubles.  
Still no word from Ace, and it'd been nearly a month.  
She wouldn't answer calls, texts, emails- nothing. Nona had even shown up to her pot farm to see if she'd been working. But no one but the growers and security had been there in days.  
The mute began to wonder if Ace had fled San Andreas.  
  
Nona woke up first again that Monday morning. She almost always did.  
14 stayed over so often that she'd begun to notice patterns and habits. How early he got up every day, how he constantly checked and sent messages out to sanctioned arms dealers across the state- and how heavy of a sleeper he was.   
He even snored sometimes, but stopped if she nudged him.  
First thing he did every morning was wake up a few minutes before his alarm and turn over to lay an arm over her middle.  
And when she turned onto her side, that's exactly what he did- waking up just enough to follow her movement and pull her in closer with an added kiss on the back of her shoulder.   
"Morning," he sleepily grumbled, not ready for consciousness.   
Nona's reply every morning was lacing her fingers in between his.  
With a contented sigh, everything was warm and serene and good-  
At least for five minutes before his phone buzzed against the mattress. His alarm was such a buzzkill.   
"Whelp," he yawned. "I'm up." He let her go and she instantly felt a little less comfort, turning over and sleepily observing him while he got dressed. He'd taken to leaving a set of clothes at her place for when he stayed over, then always went back to his place to get ready for work and feed his cat. He said he liked to run in the mornings, bright and early.  
Nona reached for her phone and opened up the speech app.  _"Are you coming over again today?"_  
"Want me to?"  
_"Every day."_  
14 sat on the bed and tied his shoes just before leaning over to kiss her. "I'll let you know if I don't have to work a second shift tonight." He put on his black jacket and headed for the door, stopping once give her an affectionate pat on the butt through the blanket. "I'll see you later."  
Positively beaming while he walked out, she reached for her phone again and texted him  _"Bye, have a good run <3 <3"_  
Heart emojis. _Jesus H. Christ_ , she was embarrassed from the moment she sent them.  
  
Fresh faced and ready to fuck up Avon Hertz, Nona arrived in the planning room later that morning, finding that Lester and Bogdan had already arrived. Bogdan seemed bored, smoking a cigarette and pacing while Lester stood at the podium with his laptop.  
"Good, you're here," Lester was the first to notice her arrival. "'Cause if we're gonna stop this little  _bastard_ and his idiotically-named AI neural network from  _destroying_ humanity, we're gonna need to act fast."  
"Like shit up stick!" Bogdan added, while Nona settled into her usual spot on the benches for the briefing.  
"Yes, exactly!"  
"Now that we know this little bastard is going to unleash hell, he is buying customized missile launchers, tanks, and SUVs. We need to intercept these."  
Lester looked past Nona to the door. "Oh, you..."  
Nona glanced back to see Mrs. Rackman, looking troubled and headached as usual. She did not envy that woman's job, but definitely respected it.  
But she was alone.  
And Lester asked the question for her. "Where is that IAA agent?"  
"Kidnapped," Nona's jaw dropped a little bit when Mrs. Rackman bluntly answered the fat man with the cane on her way down the steps. "Now he's got _two_ of my agents."  
"Kidnapped?" Lester seemed as befuddled as Nona felt. How the fuck did that happen?  
"Yes," Mrs. Rackman replied. "The little asshole got himself trapped this morning."  
Nona wondered just when it could've happened while the other three spoke amongst themselves. Anytime between leaving her apartment and coming here. For all she knew, he could've been grabbed straight out of the elevator at her place.  
"Where was he grabbed?" Lester asked. Nona halted her train of thought to listen in again.  
"Merryweather's got him."  _Goddamn it, FUCK Merryweather._  "They're gonna sell him to Avon or to the highest bidder at the port."  
"Well, why don't we just buy him back instead?" Lester suggested.  
"Okay, yeah, but you'll need cash. Maybe I'll put you in touch with our good friends, the FIB. They just had some funding come through-"  
"I  _hate_ the FIB," Lester whined. " _And_ Merryweather!"  
Nona could relate. Which was probably why Lester often opted to work with her.  
Okay, so that's two agents that need recovering.  
Nona zoned out once again, thinking of how much Mick and Graves would resent her for calling on them again so soon.  
And Ace... If she could just get ahold of Ace...  
"Get to work," Lester said to her on his way out. She hadn't even noticed when Rackman and Bogdan had walked out. "I'll be in touch. And expect the worst. He's onto us."  
  
 _"Meet me at my apartment. Right now."_  
The same message went out to all three of her contacts, and she waited.  
Mick and Graves responded within the hour stating that they were on the way.  
Ace did not.  
  
She bolted to the door when she heard knocking, and found that Mick and Graves had arrived together.  
"Okay Nona, what's going on?" Graves asked. Nona, hands shaking, rapidly signed that their first job was a rescue mission.  
"Nona, slow down," Graves could understand sign language, but only at conversational pace. "What are you trying to say?"  
Mick signed for her. He understood right away. _"IAA Agent needs to be rescued."_  
"Which one?" Graves asked.  
Nona held up one finger on one hand, and four on the other.  
"Ah. The one you're always eyeballin'," Graves chuckled. "Alright, where is the bossy little turd?"  
Nona showed him the screen of her phone, where the map pinpointed the dry dock. Where Merryweather was planning to make the deal.  
"So we gotta rescue a  _fed_ from Merryweather?" Graves asked, cocking an eyebrow at the woman. "Y'know... I don't think he's worth that kinda trouble, Non."  
 _"Please,"_ she signed.  _"I need-"_  
Another harsh knock on the door.  
Lester? Rackman?  
...  _Trevor?_  
Nona approached the door with a sigh, ready to say that she wasn't ready for another job just yet- only to find an unexpected guest when she swung open the door.  
Ace.  
"Well?" The pink haired woman asked. "What did you want?"  
"Holy shit, look who it is," Graves hooted. "Now it's a party."  
Nona, at loss for words, stepped back to allow her inside. She allowed her phone to speak for her.  _"You came"_  
"You sounded like you were in trouble," Ace replied. "You never sound like you're in trouble. So what's the problem?"  
"She wants us to help her save a fed from Merryweather," Graves said. "That douchey IAA agent who looks like he never sleeps."  
Ace rolled her eyes with an irritable groan. "That's it? You want us to help you save _Agent Boytoy?_ Why, so you can keep giving each other the 'fuck me' eyes when you think nobody notices?"  
 _"You don't get to be jealous, Ace,"_ Nona's phone and the angered expression on her face emphasized her frustration.  _"You dumped me."_ Over something petty, no less. That Nona spent too much time and effort on making money instead of spending time together, when Ace was just as guilty of doing the same.  
"Stop," Mick quietly said, stunning all of them. He rarely spoke. Speaking made him feel like he was about to go into surgery, and he hated when all attention was on him. Sometimes he couldn't even summon up his own voice when he wanted to speak. His team members did what he'd once asked and avoided all staring at him. "We... We should listen."  
Nona smiled and typed her gratitude into her phone to read aloud to him.  _"Thank you, Mick."_  She shoved her phone back into her pocket to sign out the basics of the situation to them.  
But as she went on, her team looked more skeptical of how necessary this all was. Rackman wouldn't pay them unless 14 and ULP came back alive, respectively. They were also necessary for the final task of killing Avon Hertz, which they all wanted to do.  
He'd made fools of all of them, and there was a score to settle.  
 _"I'm doing this with or without your help. I want it to be with you. All of you. I need you. Please help me."_  
Mick, Graves, and Ace looked at each other for confirmation, then back to Nona- seeing the dire need for assistance in her nervous expression.  
 _"Please,"_ She signed once more.  
 _"I'll help,"_ Mick signed, walking over and giving Nona a side-hug, which instantly lifted her spirits a little bit.  
"I'm in if Mick's in," Graves said, arms crossed as he sat at Nona's kitchen table.  
Ace breathed an exaggerated sigh and clicked her tongue. "... Okay. I guess we're  _all_ in. But I'm only helping because you care about this so much. And I don't want you to get killed... What's next?"  
  
Shooting their way through the dry dock, Nona and her team mowed down Merryweather four by four, but that was the easy part.  
When they'd reached 14, some of Avon's private army had arrived and fucked everything up- along with more of Merryweather's reinforcements. Nona had given 14 her sidearm when she found him, and kept close to him while they moved toward the extraction point- having had to snag him and pull him out of the way of gunfire more than once. Clearly not a field agent.  
Two choppers.  
Mick had opted to fly himself to the IAA's designated drop off because he couldn't fit into the first Akula chopper with the rest of the team and 14.  
Still being shot at by the remaining Merryweather soldiers, Ace flew them away with Mick close behind- everyone finally able to breathe out now that the action was over.  
No choppers on their tail.  
"We outta there?" 14 asked, trying to ease the residual tension with detatched humor- as he always seemed to do. "We outta there? We safe? Obviously not quite yet, but almost."  
Ace sighed in the pilot's seat, clearly trying to ignore him.   
"Man, that was intense," 14 said. "You feelin' jacked? I'm definitely jacked. Major endorphins... Hey, for a bunch of no good, murdering bank robbers, you sure are good at doing the right thing. We're not so different when it comes down to it- ambitious, results driven, sociopathic tendencies... It was not nice getting caught. I do the same run every morning-"  
"Man, do you ever shut up?" Graves looked back at him from the copilot seat.  
"Sorry, I'm just a little shaken up from being a fucking hostage," 14 retorted.  
 _"Relax,"_ Nona signed to him, reaching over and setting a hand on his arm.  
His shoulders noticeably relaxed at her touch, and he let out a sigh. "Sorry," he said quieter, just to her. "Thanks for your help."  
She smiled and sat back in her seat.  
A long few minutes of silence settled over the Akula's passengers, and Nona bit her lips together... Deep in thought.  
An idea dawned on her, and for some reason, it felt crucial in that moment to communicate a certain something to Agent 14. She passed him her phone, and he appeared surprised that she'd just handed it to him without context.  
The screen read  _"Raven"._  
"Raven?" He asked, passing back her phone.  
Nona nodded, and pointed to herself.  
"That's your name? Your real name?"  
She nodded again, offering him a small, shy smile. No one in San Andreas knew her name. Not even Ace. But now, she'd shared it with a man she barely knew. Because on some odd level, she wanted to know him so much more. And she wanted him to know her too.  
"That's a nice name," he returned her smile, hesitantly reaching over and setting a hand on hers for a brief moment, just as Ace brought the chopper down at the IAA's drop point. He spoke louder, to address the whole team. "Thanks for the ride," then he stole a quick yet deep kiss from Nona which all but took her breath away before he climbed out of the chopper. "Be good, okay?"  
She spent the rest of the evening feeling like she was high, even when Ace, Mick, and Graves teased her for it later.  
Maybe she was in love.


	5. Perfect.

With 14 back in IAA custody, rescuing Agent ULP felt easy- especially with the assistance of a friend she'd recently made. A young, car obsessed woman named Jess who loved to drive and loved to fuck people up who deserved it.  
Avon's private army seemed infinite- and every one of the motherfuckers was identical!  
Lester speculated that they might have been clones of Avon himself- which, with all the other shit happening, didn't seem too farfetched.  
But on the bright side, because Avon was a fucking  _ **w i m p**_ no matter how many guns you gave him, it was easy to mow down his numbers and steal a shiny, new, top of the line Khanjali tank.  
Better yet was when Ace practically wept at the opportunity to fly a Volatol jet around Mount Chiliad- a dream she'd had since she first laid eyes on the jet.  
  
Better yet  _still_ was that now, 14 didn't mind if she came to his place from then on. In the following weeks of preparation, he'd invited her over for the first time and she was surprised to see that he didn't live very far away from her in one of the smaller, more affordable houses in Vinewood Hills on Hangman Ave. "It's not as fancy as your place," he said, leading her up to the front door. "But it's comfortable-- and you're not allergic to cats, are you?"  
She shook her head and made a heart with heart with her hands. She adored cats.  
"Good to know," he grinned, arm around her shoulder when he walked her inside. They were immediately met with a curious meow and the poofiest gray cat Nona had ever seen trotted over to them and stopped a few feet short, where it sat down, curled its tail around its legs and waited for its owner to give it attention.  
Nona suppressed a gasp, hands over her mouth in astonishment at how obscenely fluffy the cat was.  
14 let slip a laugh when he saw her reaction. "His name's Jeff. He'll let you pet him, but he'll get mad if you stop before he's asleep."  
 _"I love him,"_ Nona mouthed, cautiously stepping closer to Jeff and bending to let him sniff her hand. Three curious sniffs where his little nose touched her hand and he rubbed his face on her.  
Clearly this was the highlight of her day.  
"Rackman's Maine Coon just had kittens too, so she's trying to give some of them away. I was planning on asking her about one when all this Avon shit's done."  
Nona gasped again, brown eyes alive with joy at the mention of kittens.  
  
Even through the rest of the night together, the cat wouldn't leave them alone because of how much he wanted the new person's affection. They watched a movie later in the evening. Nona was laid out on the couch, head on 14's lap. Jeff had situated himself on top of Nona's stomach and reveled in her attention until he dozed off. Even Nona fell asleep in the peaceful, and strangely domestic moment.  
14 observed her for a quick minute. She was cute when she slept, lips parted slightly to draw in and release soft, even breaths.   
Seemingly calm despite all of the pressure of the task at hand.  
In truth, she wasn't calm.  
But ready to possibly die. Savoring each moment of peace until the time came.  
  
It was a tense and somber ride up to Mount Chiliad in the stolen Khanjali.  
Graves had driven the tank, muttering prayers under his breath the whole time.  
Ace sat in the passenger seat with a rifle in her trembling hands. For once, having nothing to say.  
Mick looked like he had accepted the possibility of failure already, and Nona noticed him chewing the insides of his lips and cheeks to shreds from anxiety.  
Nona looked around her team, bidding them all her silent, just-in-case farewell, as well as her gratitude for having worked with people as good and as loyal as them. She moved to remove her glasses- then remembered that she'd worn contacts that day. Last thing she needed was dirty lenses messing up her sights.  
 _"I'm sorry things ended badly between me and you."_ Her text to Ace read.  
She saw Ace look at her phone almost immediately after she'd hit send. Ace glanced back at the other woman for a brief moment wrote a prompt reply. _"Stop acting like we're going to die. We're gonna go home at the end of the day. I know it."_  
Nona gave the back of Ace's pink-dyed head a small, hopeful smile, and looked back at her phone to find a picture she'd taken of 14. He was helping to clean up after dinner one night and she caught him by surprise. Blue eyes looking up and meeting the camera from under his brow.  
A picture she'd kept in mind while they'd shoot their way through the missile base.  
  
"How many of these mother _fuckers_ are there!?" Ace, absolutely enraged, never seemed to remove her finger from the trigger as the crew made their way through the underbelly of Mount Chiliad. Deeper and deeper in still to the control room, where Avon's numbers seemed infinite. Clifford had already started the countdown, all while Avon and the AI mocked the crew over the base's PA system.   
Mick went through the terminals one-by-one to disable the launch, and Nona kept close to protect him. The literal Doomsday clock was ticking, and there was no going back if they fucked up now.   
"Don't let them separate us!" Graves shouted from further along the concrete rail- which made for the crew's only protection from being shot on all sides. "Nona, Mick! Where are you- how many left!?"

Nona could hear his call from a distance while Mick hacked the third terminal with trembling fingers. He was loudly humming a song to try to drown out the pressure of the chaos around them.  
Nona, unable to shout back, bit the glove off of her right hand, put her fingers to her lips and unleashed three sharp, near-deafeningly loud whistles to signal to Graves and Ace that they were still working, and that there was only one terminal left after this one. Clifford would be disabled, and they could go after Avon himself.  
" _DONE_ ," Mick barely managed to spit out the word, grabbing Nona by the sleeve and pulling her along to the final terminal, where Nona continued to gun down more of Avon's clone army to keep Mick safe.  
Now that Mick had the hang of the software, the final terminal only took approximately thirty seconds to override.  
Mick gave Nona a nod of affirmation, and she gave four short, loud whistles to signal to Ace and Graves that they were done.  
After that, Avon's numbers diminished quickly, until there were none left.  
"Everyone take a terminal," Ace barked, finally sounding confident that they would all survive unharmed.  
Nona ran back to the third terminal and took control of the screen.  
The Orbital Cannon.  
One-by-one, they destroyed Clifford's mobile cloud servers via space gun. They could hear the AI stating over the PA that he felt himself shrinking down with each strike, until he'd said goodbye to an extremely distraught Avon Hertz.  
" _ **YOU'RE NEXT!**_ " Graves roared at the PA, assuming that Avon could hear him.  
 _"You got the AI now get him!"_ Lester shouted through their headsets.  
Rackman cut in as well.  _"He's escaping through the silo. Get to the launch chamber!"_  
 _"Make your way through the tunnels,"_ 14 mapped out their path.  _"It's a single path to the silo, we have to contain it!"_  
 _We got this,_ Nona thought. _We fucking got this- he can't surprise us with more bullshit now!_  
The crew shot their way through another dozen or so of Avon's clones as they forced their way to the silo, while Avon lamented to them about how they'd ruined his life's work- and that he still contained the original code to rebuild the AI.  
 _"Hurry up!"_ 14 ordered. _"If he shares the code open source, there'll be dickhead AI's everywhere."_  
 _"No, he's too into IP's for that,"_ Lester said.  _"Anyway, stop him! Avon is on the run with the last Clifford drive around his neck! We've come this far, we can't miss out on the payday! Stop that geek with a makeover, now!"_  
The crew ran through the narrow halls, shooting down anything that moved and bore Clifford's logo, before they forced open the blast doors of the silo--  
Where Avon was strapped into-  
"Is that a fucking _jetpack!?_ " Ace gasped, unintentionally lowering her rifle in dismay that such a thing actually existed.  
"You can't stop progress, you fools!" Avon bragged, hovering away. "I'm the future! A tidal wave of tsunamis! I cannot be stopped, Clifford can not be stopped!"  
"I'm getting real fuckin' tired of this guy," Graves muttered as he and the others strapped themselves into the four remaining Thrusters- which they didn't even really know how to fly. But it vaguely resembled controls of a chopper, and they'd watched Ace fly a million times- which proved to be sufficient as they chased Avon through the sky.  
"Ohmygod, this is the best day ever," Ace beamed, using the built in missile system to shoot down helicopters that came to Avon's aid.  
Mick and Graves helped with the others, but Nona was set on destroying the hard drive around Avon's neck, so she followed full speed after him and didn't relent until a missile finally blew him to pieces.  
 _"YOU KILLED THAT CREEP AND HIS AI!"_ Lester hooted through the headset.  
14 followed up with directions on where to land, and Nona only heard 'Observatory' above the sound of her own heavy, panicked breathing as she finally calmed down.  
They just saved the world.  
Holy shit, what a day...  
  
The moment they'd landed the Thrusters, Nona immediately stepped away from hers and drew a deep breath, carefully rubbing her eyes so as not to irritate her contacts--  
Then suddenly being squeezed by all three members of her team.  
"NONA, YOU _DID_ IT!" Ace cried. "YOU GOT HIM!"  
"You're a fuckin' great shot, kid," Graves agreed.  
Nona was practically in tears, unable to get rid of the huge grin on her face by the time her friends had let her go. She signed  _"I couldn't do it without you"_ , just as 14 and Lester walked around the building to greet them.  
"Thank you, people!" 14 waved. "Now when you see the boss can you all let her know that this was all my master plan and that I should get a promotion."  
"Don't press your luck, my man," Graves shot that idea down in an instant.  
"Nonononono, we should let you _fry_ ," Lester cut in with a mocking threat.  
Nona didn't think she'd ever be so happy to see someone, and Mick gave her a playful nudge with his elbow when he noticed the look on her face when they followed up the stairs to the city's overlook.  
"Mr. Crest," Mrs. Rackman greeted.  
"'Mr. Crest, the government owes you a big apology'," Lester filled in the gaps for her. "'Oh, and we're also gonna exponge all those charges on your record'."  
"No, not exactly." Rackman rolled her eyes. "Clifford?"  
"Oh, Clifford," Lester chuckled. "It's gonna be like he never existed..."  
Nona leaned against the archway just behind lester and peered out over Los Santos. The city blissfully unaware of how close it'd come to destruction.  
"-Those were all innocent mistakes, so let's just make sure the record says that, thank you."  
"There will be no record," Rackman agreed, turning to her agent. "Fourteen."  
"Mrs. Rackman."  
"You brought Avon Hertz into the government."  
"And these guys," he defended.  
"If I can, I _will_ fire you."  
14 seemed to take it as a challenge. "I'm protected class," he said, shooting a glance at Nona before walking away.  
 _More like protected by me,_ she thought. She'd make fun of him for it later.  
"Yes. Moronic." Rackman muttered. "Now all of you get out of here. Let's all pretend this never happened. Mr. Crest, we'll send you the money."  
And that was all for the IAA.  
"So when are we getting our cuts?" Ace asked, wondering if she could get away with taking a Thruster before the IAA could collect them.  
"I'll wire them to you all as soon as the check clears," Lester said, turning to them. "Well, this has been... Horrifying. Really, really horrifying, but... Also pretty fun, so... Bye-bye."  
Without further ado, he hobbled away on his cane and left the four mercenaries to look out at the city.  
 _"Where are you all going after this?"_ Mick signed.  
"Church," Graves replied first, before cracking his neck. "Then the chiropractor."  
"To get drunk off my tits," Ace muttered, fixing her disheveled ponytail.  
 _"Bed,"_ Nona signed.  
"With _Agent Boytoy?_ " Ace smirked, giving her friend a pat on the back. Now that all of this was over, they could move on from being bitter, and just be happy for each other. Best friends again.  
Nona rolled her eyes, unable to hold back a shy smile.  
  
Now that all of her gear was shed into a pile on the floor, Nona felt lighter than air as she stepped into the shower and washed off the grime of the missile silo; emerging feeling very much alive with the residual glow of the knowledge that her team had succeeded.  
Her neighbor would _never_ fucking believe it.  
Her phone chimed on the bathroom counter while she combed her hair.  
A text from 14.  _"Wanna come over now that the world isn't ending?"_  
 _"Damn right I do."_  She sent back.  
  
She'd never seen him waiting so eagerly as that day. Waiting in the doorway of his house the moment she parked her motorcycle and pulled off her helmet as she walked up.  
"I think you earned a night off," he greeted.  
Nona nodded her agreement as she walked in the door, immediately halted by 14 hauling her in closer by her belt and kissing her hard enough that it bent her backward a little bit. The front door slammed shut behind them and Nona let slip a silent giggle against his lips as she dropped her helmet onto the hardwood floor to run her fingers through his short hair.  
"Got something I wanna show you," he said against her lips.  
He let her stand upright and saw the glow of adoration on her face when she saw that he was able to sign something to her. Spelling something.  
 _W. A. R. R. E. N._  
 _Warren?_ Her face lit up like fireworks and she softly gasped when she realized what he'd told her.  
"For the sake of OPSEC, you can keep calling me Wilson.  _Raven_."  
She smiled brightly and took her phone from her pocket to say _"Then you can keep calling me Nona. For OPSEC._ Warren _."_  
They looked at each other for a moment, at peace in the intimate moment.  
"Y'know..." He said. "I don't think a lot of guys can honestly say 'hey, my girl  _literally_ saved the fucking Earth'."  
 _"I'm your girl?"_ Her phone read the question, cocky smirk on her face.   
"I mean-" he reeled it in a little. "If it's not too fast for you. I like this... I like where we are. And I kinda wanna see where it goes... If you're on board."  
Nona nodded happily, writing  _"Is the IAA okay with that?"_  
"They will be. Once things die down. We'll keep it on the DL for a little bit, but it's not like Rackman's looking for bigger reasons to try to fire me."  
Nona let slip a muted laugh and pulled him in again to kiss him once more.  
  
In the morning, 14 ignored his alarm to go run, instead pulling Nona closer and accidentally disturbing Jeff, who had settled at the foot of the bed. The cat decided to move up closer to them, lying back down behind 14's bent knees. Nona's fingers laced into 14's, like every morning. Later on, she'd text her parents to tell them about her big government check, and about her new boyfriend.  
  
Sunbeams barely permeating through the curtains.  
Birds chirping out the window.  
14's quiet, even breaths as he fell back asleep behind her.  
Jeff's engine-like purring behind them both.  
And the sounds of the occasional car quietly passing by outside.  
Sometimes, the world was absolutely _perfect_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was seriously so fun to make  
> Thank you for reading <3

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [My Dude's O'Death](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14180373) by [JetravenEx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JetravenEx/pseuds/JetravenEx)
  * [Buffalo Gals Tear up the Town Tonight](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15121925) by [JetravenEx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JetravenEx/pseuds/JetravenEx)




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